Product Description

Director Sergio Martino and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi are at it again with YOUR VICE IS A CLOSED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY, a gore-soaked psycho-thriller in the severed vein of their classic gialli STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH, THE CASE OF THE SCORIPION’S TALE, TORSO and ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK.

Luigi Pistilli (THE GREAT SILENCE, BAY OF BLOOD) is a burned out novelist haunted by the memory of his dead mother and making life miserable for wife Anita Strindberg (THE CASE OF THE SCORPION’S TAIL, A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN). When the failed writer’s mistress is found slashed to death, the crime initiates a series of bloody slayings that drive the protagonists to the brink of insanity… and murder.

Edwige Fenech (STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH, SECRETS OF A CALL GIRL) and Ivan Rassimov (DEEP RIVER SAVAGES, EATEN ALIVE) co-star in this atypical country-set giallo, which owes more than a passing debt to Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat" and anticipates the hyper-stylized madness of Dario Argento’s PROFONDO ROSSO and Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING.

Photographed in lush widescreen by Giancarlo Ferrando and blessed with a trippy score from Ennio Morricone conductor Bruno Nicolai, YOUR VICE IS A CLOSED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY is rife with essential 70s cinema elements: substance abuse, gratuitous sex, infidelity, incest, hippie love communes, dirtbike racing… and homicidal murder, Italian-style.

Throw away those grainy, incomplete bootlegs and substandard import DVDs. NoShame Films presents YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED DOOR AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY uncut in a pristine, widescreen, 16x9 presentation re-mastered from the original negative for the first time in America.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89475 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-09-27
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

DVD Verdict.com
Edwige Fenech almost melts the camera with her radiance

10,000 Bullets.com
cleverly mixes the works of Edgar Allen Poe with the visceral style associated with the giallo genre, highly recommended

DVD Talk.com
I would go on record and say that NoShame is the R1 company I have been waiting for. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Customer Reviews

Ah, the cat knows all....
Interesting little Italian giallo released in 1972 and expertly restored by the folks at No Shame. Not a really bloody one per se, but a tale filled with the usual assortment of red herrings, unbridled sensuality, deception, deceit, murder, a cat named "Satan".....and motorcross dirt biking! (Well, actually the last one is just a device to move the romantic subplot along...) At any rate, the story borrows heavily from Poe's "The Black Cat", but don't let that turn you off to watching it. Scenes from the film itself will recall the madness of Argento's "Deep Red" and Kubrick's "The Shining" in moments of suspense and terror.

No stranger to this medium, Edwige Fenech is as gorgeous as ever and she looks just as lovely in the interview extra with director Sergio Martino as she did over 30 years ago when the film was produced. Supporting players Anita Strindberg and Luigi Pistilli raise the bar of this giallo over the standard fare typical of this genre. A good solid giallo, but not in the caliber of, say, "The Case of the Scorpion's Tale" (also directed by Martino) or "The Fifth Cord."

In fact, the extras, especially the interview with Martino and Fenech is well-done and most informative; the crew at No Shame have really presented a first-class DVD release re-mastered from the original print and now available in the USA for the first time.

SERGIO MARTINO'S BEST!!!
I know you Torso and Scorpion's Tail fans will disagree, but this is Martino's best giallo. GREAT location, music, and acting. The murder scenes are wonderfully executed, and Edwidge Fenech is HOT in her first villainous role. And the cries of the black cat! Creepy! Is it alive or dead? Great giallo. Period.

Contains the best and worst of the genre
How could I not watch this movie with a title like that? Anyway, this movie contains some of the best and worst features commonly found in giallo films. Bad: Ultra-cheesy soundtrack, poor editing, melodramatic acting, and superfluous sex/nudity. (I guess that last one could be a good thing depending on your point of view.) Some of the good things include a great location (an old Italian villa) and a solid story at its core. I liked this movie more in retrospect, but at the time, I found myself getting bored in places. The movie starts off strong, gets bogged down a bit in the middle, but ultimately finishes on a high point. In the end it evens out to a slightly above average giallo.